A connection contact may incorporate a blade contact or a blade receptacle contact (spring contact), for example. It may also be part of an electrical component such as a relay or a switch. In order to establish an electrical or mechanical connection with the circuit board or the lead frame, the connection contact incorporates an insertion section, commonly pin or strip-shaped, that is inserted into an opening of the circuit board or the lead frame. To achieve an electrically conductive connection, one wall of the opening of the circuit board is usually made electrically conductive, either by tinning or through the insertion of a metal sleeve. No soldering or welding takes place.
A connection contact, commonly called insertion pin, is disclosed in EP 0 833 406 A2. In its insertion section, the familiar connection contact has a metal strip that is widened in a central section where the insertion section is curved in the form of a C.
This creates an area with spring action that improves the electrical and mechanical connection when compared with an insertion section consisting of a flat and therefore almost rigid metal strip. The familiar connection contact, when inserted into a cylindrical hole in a circuit board, makes contact at two diametrically opposed places of the hole wall, the contact area taking the shape of a point or—at best—a line.
Another connection contact, called insertion contact, is disclosed in DE 197 26 759 A1. The insertion section of this connection contact, also designed as a metal strip, is slotted longitudinally, forming two limbs of a spring that are bent in a bow shape towards the outside. In a cylindrical hole of a circuit board, the spring limbs also make contact at two diametrically opposed places of the hole wall, the contact area also taking the shape of a point or—at best—a line.